


The Murder Game

by deinde_prandium



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-27
Updated: 2018-03-27
Packaged: 2019-04-13 17:01:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14116884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deinde_prandium/pseuds/deinde_prandium
Summary: As his dorm's annual Murder Game takes on an intensity he hadn't realized was possible, Peeta discovers that it might actually provide the opening he's been waiting for to approach his college crush. Sort of.





	The Murder Game

**Author's Note:**

> Once upon a time, I was having a chat with sponsormusings about how we used to play this game (usually called Assassins, but we just called it the murder game) in our college dorm, and how I surprised I was that no one had ever tried to turn the concept into a THG fic. That was more than a year ago. But ever so slowly, I have added bits and pieces to this little bit of college AU fluff and it has gradually ballooned to more than 4800 words. 
> 
> Thanks to dealan for being a great sister/beta/sounding board (as usual). 
> 
> As always, I own nothing, but I borrow with love.

Peeta stared at the poorly cut-out construction paper grave stone that adorned the bulletin board in the Heavensbee House common room. Slips of paper were - more or less - neatly arranged in rows, bearing the name and time of death of each of his fallen comrades. Leaning in closer, Peeta examined the list carefully to see who had been killed off since the the last time he had checked. **  
**

Three deaths in the past 24 hours. Shit was getting real.

The rules seemed simple enough: once you got a post-it with the name of your victim, you had a week to “kill” them by tagging them with the sticker. Your victim’s target would become your next one, and the clock reset every time you got a new name. Last one left was the winner. Safe zones included your own room (of course), the study room, the bathroom, and - with one notable exception - the dining hall. You couldn’t be killed if you were in class, either. The only other way to stay safe was by attaching yourself to a fellow housemate, regardless if they were dead, alive, or simply not playing.

Other than that, anything and everything was on the table. And, based on how things had panned out over the past six days, it didn’t seem as though anybody was holding back. In fact, what had been pitched to the group as a house bonding activity had taken a remarkably cutthroat turn in a startlingly short period of time.

It was, in a manner of speaking, a bloodbath.

The first death had happened all of twenty minutes into the game. Wiress, who was on her way back from a late night study session the library, hadn’t realized the game started at midnight. She was checking her mailbox for her post-it when Andrew Gloss cornered her.

Cory Snow had taken to “poisoning” his victims by pasting their post-its to the underside of their plates when they weren’t looking. He’d watch with quiet glee as they ate before triumphantly toasting their demise at the conclusion of the meal. He managed to kill three people that way before getting ambushed outside the dining hall.

Johanna Mason had played the odds in a different way. Heavensbee House being a freshman residence, Johanna had rightly surmised that a number of her fellow housemates took Psych 101 - not a huge stretch, considering that the class itself had more than 700 students. She’d sit in the auditorium and spend most of the class scanning the room for her target, then kill them as soon as they exited the lecture hall. The craziest part? Johanna didn’t even *take* Psych 101.

Peeta shook his head with a sigh as he spotted the newest name on the board. By sheer luck, he’d managed to tag his victim, a quiet girl living in 308, as she passed by his ground floor bedroom the night before. It was weird how bad he felt doing it, but he supposed that was all just part of the game.

Besides, the $250 pot the winner got was a pretty sweet incentive for a guy whose mom threatened to cut him off at least once every other week.

“Hey. It’s Peeta, right?”

Peeta started at the sound of the voice behind him. He turned to find none other than Katniss Everdeen, the star of every fantasy he’d had since arriving on campus six weeks ago, standing before him. Despite living in the same residence house, they rarely interacted - unsurprising, given that they were in wildly disparate programs - so he was surprised that she even knew his name.

_Holy shit,_  he thought.  _She knows my name._

Peeta searched for words as she took in her form. Despite having acknowledged his presence, she didn’t seem all that interested in having any real conversation. Instead, she stared fixedly at the board, her one hand fiddling with the black braid that slung over her shoulder while the other was jammed into the pocket of her jean shorts….her really, really short shorts.

He gulped, willing himself to keep from leering at the way her cutoffs showed off her long, olive-toned legs. He sent a silent prayer of thanks to the powers that be for the uncharacteristically warm weather they were experiencing.

An eternity seemed to pass before he finally responded. “That’s me,” he said, with as much nonchalance as he could muster. “And you’re Katniss.” As if he didn’t know.

His remark was greeted with a slight nod, but nothing else.  _Come on, Mellark._   _Say something_ , he chastised himself. He decided to go for the obvious. “So. You checking out the casualty list?”

“Yeah,” she replied. “Not that many of us left, are there?”

He hummed in agreement. “I think there are only, like, eight of us left in this thing. People are getting crazy.”

“Tell me about it,” Katniss said. “I was walking back from the dining hall with Rue yesterday, and Marvel literally tore her hand out of mine before he killed her. Asshole.”

Peeta made a face. “Seriously? Isn’t that against the rules or something?”

“Probably. Didn’t matter, though. He didn’t know I had his name. Killed him all of two seconds after he pulled that move. I won’t lie, it was pretty satisfying,” she replied with a smirk.

“Whoa. Remind me never to get on your bad side,” Peeta joked. Katniss blushed, but he swore he could see a hint of a smile.

“What about you?” she asked. Any horror stories to report?“

"Nah, it’s actually been pretty quiet,” Peeta said with a crooked smile. “Maybe, if I’m lucky, I can just run out the clock and the person who’s got me will die by default.”

This time, however, Katniss didn’t say anything in response, merely bumping her shoulder against his as she turned back to the board. Peeta did the same, shifting his weight from one foot to the other as he tried to figure out what to say next. Eventually, he managed to get out, “So…you have any idea who’s got your name?”

As if on cue, he heard someone hiss, “Oh, Kaaaaaatniiiiiiisssss!” from the other end of the hall. “Come out, come out, wherever you are!”

Katniss froze. “Fuck,” she muttered under her breath.

Peeta quirked a brow upward. “I take it that’s the person who’s trying to kill you?”

“Yeah,” she replied, her eyes darting around the room in a clear effort to plan some kind of escape. “Cato. He’s been following me around all week, and he’s out of the game if he doesn’t kill me by midnight.”

Peeta grimaced at the sound of Cato’s name. If he recalled correctly, the guy had seemed a little bit too eager to play the Murder Game when it was announced at the last house meeting, hooting and hollering about how much fun it was going to be to kick everyone’s collective ass and take home the prize money. The idea of Katniss being able to evade him all week must have been driving the guy crazy.

They listened as Cato continued to call out for her. “I know you’re around here somewhere, Kitty Kat…and if you think you’re getting off this floor alive, you should know that Marvel is by the stairwell and Glimmer is guarding the bathroom.”

“Great,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “He’s recruited my ‘victims’ to trap me.”

Despite the air of indifference Katniss was trying to project, Peeta couldn’t help but notice how her discomfort seemed to grow as the catcalls continued.

“I don’t get it,” he mused. “It’s just a game, right? No need to be so crazy.”

“I know,” she agreed. “I think it’s making him nuts that he hasn’t been able to get me, and somehow I’ve managed to kill two. I guess he thought I’d be an easy target since I’m on the small side,” she added with a shrug.

“Well, he was certainly wrong on that one,” Peeta chuckled. Striding toward the doorway, he peeked out of the common room to find out what their rez mate was doing. He saw Cato barge into a nearby room, demanding to know if Katniss was hiding in there. “Oh my god, he’s doing room searches now,” he observed, disdain lacing his voice. “He’s only a few doors down.”

Katniss just shook her head. “What a jerk. I mean, I know I’m kind of a sitting duck here, but I really don’t want to give Cato the satisfaction of winning.”

Peeta nodded in agreement. He was just as competitive as the next guy, but Cato was taking things a bit too far. “Well, it’s a good thing we’re allies,” he replied, reaching out his hand to take hers.

Katniss looked at him in confusion.  _Maybe holding hands with a near stranger isn’t really her thing?_

“I could escort you to your room?” he offered by way of explanation.

She shook her head. “That’s pointless. They’d figure out a way to separate us.”

“Well, my room is just a few doors down the hall on this floor,” he tried. “If we make it, I could let you hide out in there until midnight, and he’ll die by default.“

Katniss, however, flushed at the suggestion. "I can’t ask you to do that.”

“Why not? It’s not a big deal. It’s just a game, right? Isn’t it supposed to help us bond as rez mates or something?”

“Yes, but-”

“I won’t try anything, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Peeta protested awkwardly. One look at Katniss’ beet red face, and he knew he had said the wrong thing.  "Shit- I mean, I’m not coming on to you or anything, I swear, and I’m sure you can figure a way out if you want, but since he’s kind of got you cornered and you’re starting to run out of options I thought I would offer my room as a sanctuary, and wow, that sounds a lot creepier than it did in my head…” He trailed off, hanging his head in defeat. “Sorry. Never mind. Forget I said anything. Forget I’m even here.”

“Okay. I’ll allow it.”

Peeta’s gaze snapped back to hers in surprise. “Really?” he asked, hoping he didn’t sound as excited as he felt.

“Yeah.”

He held out his hand. “Then let’s go.”

—

“I still can’t believe Cato tried to use the ‘bros before hos’ argument as a reason for me to help him kill you.”

“I know, right? But I have to say, the way you tackled him so that I could escape was incredibly heroic.”  A little laugh escaped Katniss’ lips, and Peeta thought it was the best thing he’d ever heard.

“Now that you mention it, I did kind of feel like I was in a movie. The way you slammed the door as soon as I dove into the room was like something out of an action film.”

“Or an eighties movie,” Katniss offered.

Peeta grinned. “That, too.”

The two shared a smile as they continued to sip on hot chocolate side-by-side on the floor of Peeta’s single room. They’d been there for hours - he was hesitant to check the time, lest she get the impression that he wanted her to leave - and while they hadn’t really done anything aside from eat and chat and listen to the rain fall outside his window, he couldn’t remember a time when he felt more content.

Only the occasional sound of Cato angrily banging on his door served to remind them of why they were holed up together in the first place.

“You know what? I haven’t actually heard any angry yelling or attempts to knock down the door for a little while. You think he’s finally given up?” he mused.

“I don’t really care,” Katniss said with a shrug. “I’m…having a good time. In fact, I should probably thank him later.”

“Thank him for what?”

“Well, if he hadn’t tried to corner me, I would never have discovered that you have an endless supply of snacks in your room. I don’t even care that we missed dinner.”

“Ah,” Peeta said. A knowing smile crossed his face as he teased, “I understand. You’re just using me for my buns.” Katniss’ eyes widened, causing him to backtrack. “I mean, cheese buns. You know what I mean.” He felt his cheeks redden as he spoke.  _Idiot_.  _You are an idiot._

"So,” he said brightly, eager to change the subject, “is it true you climbed a tree and waited there for Glimmer to get back from class?”

Now it was Katniss’s turn to look embarrassed. “Who told you that?”

“Caesar was giving everyone the play by play at dinner the other day. I swear to god, that kid’s acting like he’s Bob Costas at the Olympics or something. He’s obsessed.”

“I wasn’t trying to ambush her,” she protested. “I was actually hiding out from Cato, and she happened to pass by. It was just lucky.”

“Lucky,” he repeated. “Somehow I think you’ve got more than just plain luck on your side, Everdeen.”

Katniss’s eyebrows scrunched together. “And what do you mean by that, Mellark?”

“Just that you’re smart. And resourceful. And really good at pretending to be an action hero when the moment feels right - jumping out of trees, slamming doors in people’s faces…” Peeta couldn’t help but grin at the way she scowled in reply. “No, but seriously. You’re kind of amazing.”

Her scowl softened. “Well, you’re not too bad, yourself. Being my savior and all that.”

“I’d do it again in a heartbeat,” Peeta replied earnestly.

Katniss, however, didn’t respond. Peeta gulped, convinced he had said the wrong thing when he saw a look resembling discomfort on her face as she stared at the contents of her near-empty mug.

_Fuck_. Of course he had to ruin things by coming on too strong.

The silence stretched on as Peeta searched for a way to salvage the moment.  _Calm the fuck down, Mellark. Don’t scare her off. You’re totally, totally scaring her off._

He was so deep in thought that he almost didn’t notice Katniss scoot closer…and lean her head on his shoulder.

Peeta froze.  _Was this really happening?_

“Is…is this okay?” Katniss asked quietly, hesitation lacing her voice. “I’m starting to get tired, and, well…your shoulder looked so comfortable…”

He could barely hear his own reply over the thudding in his chest. “Yeah. Of course.”

Feeling Katniss relax by his side, Peeta slowly, tentatively, leaned his own head against hers. He gave a small sigh, marvelling at how their proximity made it possible to discover how good she smelled. Like…sandalwood. And oranges. They sat quietly like this, teetering on the edge of sleepiness as the minutes ticked by. Katniss’s breathing gradually evened out, and he realized she had fallen asleep. It must be getting late, Peeta thought, but he couldn’t bring himself to move an inch.

In fact, he would have been perfectly happy to freeze this moment and live in it forever.

Peeta was just starting to drift off himself, when there was a knock on the door. He sat up with a jolt, bumping the side of Katniss’ head in the process. “Oh shit, I’m sorry!” he cried.

“No, no, it’s fine,” she said, jumping up and smoothing out the front of her shirt. “I shouldn’t have passed out on you like that. Anyway, I uh, I wonder who that is. You expecting anyone?”

“Um, no,” he answered. “I’m guessing it’s not Cato, though.”

Katniss smiled at him as she approached the door. Looking through the peephole, she sighed in relief. “It’s Rue,” she informed him. “Can I let her in?”

“Yeah, sure, totally,” he replied, trying to tamp down the disappointment he felt now that their moment had been broken.

Katniss opened the door, and Rue stepped inside. She looked timidly about the room until her eyes landed on Peeta. “Hey,” she greeted him, before turning back to Katniss. “I heard you got caught in here because of Cato. But, um, it’s after midnight and he’s officially forfeited, so I figured you’d want to know. I tried to text, but you left your phone in your room…”

“Oh. Right, of course. What time is it?”

“A little after 1:30,” Rue replied, giving Katniss a meaningful look. A brief, silent conversation seemed to flow between the two, but Peeta had no idea what it was about. “But if I’m interrupting something, I can go-”

“No, that’s fine. I should probably get back to my room,” Katniss said. She gave Peeta a weak smile. “But thank you, Peeta. This was really fun.”

“Yeah,” he agreed. He took half a step out the doorway. “Can I, um, walk you back to your room…you know, in case Cato tries to sic someone else on you?”

“Oh, no, that’s not necessary,” she said quickly, putting a hand on his chest to keep him in place. “I’ll just go back with Rue. We’re roommates. And anyway, it’s late, and you did say you have an early class tomorrow, so…”

Peeta nodded as he ran a hand through his hair. This wasn’t exactly how he had planned for things to go…not that he had come up with any plan at all, but that was a different story. Nonetheless, the insistent look in Katniss’s eyes as she pled for him to stay put, while disappointing, was enough to make him relent. After all, he’d managed to spend an entire evening with her. Anything more than this was probably pressing his luck. “Okay. Well, I, um, I had a good time tonight. Sorry, I said that already, didn’t I? But anyway…maybe we can hang out again sometime? Preferably without Cato camping outside my door?”

She gave him a soft smile. “Only if you supply the snacks.”

“Obviously,” he replied, beaming.

Katniss linked arms with Rue. “Goodnight, Peeta,” she said as they turned to leave. “Thanks again for saving me. I…I owe you one.”

“Anytime,” he promised.

Peeta shut the door behind him before triumphantly pumping his fist in the air. Who would have thought that a murder game, of all things, was the opportunity he had needed to get to know her better? He knew he’d have to play things kind of cool, but if that wasn’t a perfect start to things, he didn’t know what was.

His mind raced with ideas of how to approach her again, so much so that he almost didn’t notice that something was stuck to the floor in the same spot where he and Katniss had been sitting. A random slip of paper must have fallen out of her back pocket as she was getting up.

As he reached to pick it up, he realized it wasn’t just any scrap of paper. It was a post-it.

Curious, Peeta turned the paper over to see who Katniss’ next target was.  _I feel sorry for them already_ , he thought with a smirk.

The smirk fell off his face when he saw the name.

_Peeta Mellark_.

—

Peeta’s pencil flew furiously across the page as he scribbled over another failed sketch. Ripping the page out, he crumpled the offending paper into a ball and threw it across the room with a sigh.

_Get yourself together, and stop obsessing about this stupid game_ , he told himself.

Not that his words had any effect. It had been four days, and by his calculations he would be running out the clock soon if Katniss didn’t kill him. He’d been waiting to see if she would make an appearance, but he hadn’t seen her around. If not for the fact that he knew she was out to kill him, he’d have thought she was avoiding him.

Though, perhaps there was a bit of truth to that idea.

For his part, he’d also been hiding out. Kind of. It wasn’t like their schedules matched much, anyway. But he hadn’t made much of an effort to go to the dining hall with his fellow rez mates, on the off-chance she would be there too. It was just…awkward. He wasn’t really sure what to say.

_Hi, I’ve had a huge crush on you since orientation, but you didn’t pay attention to me until you realized I was a stepping stone on your path to collecting the house prize money…_

Too bitter.

_Hi, I know I’m your target but I still really like you even though I am wondering if you were flirting with me for real or just trying to butter me up before killing me…_

Sounded kinda pathetic.

Peeta was considering the option of skipping Sunday’s house meeting, when his musings were interrupted by a soft knock on the door. He wondered if it might be her.

“Here to finish me off, Sweetheart?” he asked as he swung the door open, only to find that it was not, in fact, Katniss who had come to see him.

Peeta quirked a brow, confused at the sight of the fox-faced girl who stood in the doorway with a sardonic look on her face. She looked vaguely familiar, but when he tried to think of her name, he came up short.

“Can I help you?”

“I’m actually here to help you.” Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a slip of paper and stretched out her hand to offer it to Peeta. “I’m your target, and I’m here to forfeit.”

Realization dawned on him.  _That’s right_ , he thought. Jackie, the girl on the fifth floor.

“I don’t get it. Why are you forfeiting?”

“I’m going out of town with my boyfriend for a few days, and my time is going to run out before I get back,” she explained. “Not interested in delaying the inevitable, so may as well just forfeit and pass on the name of my target to the next person. It’s not like I have a chance of catching her, anyway.”

Peeta shook his head. This whole situation was so strange. “Wait. How did you know I was the one who was supposed to kill you?”

“Really?” She looked at him like he had to be the biggest idiot in the world. “I had the whole game figured out by day four. I had a diagram and everything. Pretty simple, honestly. Besides, it’s only the three of us left. Well, now just the two.”

Realization dawned a second time. Seeking confirmation of his suspicions, he slowly unfolded the slip of paper and read the name.

_Katniss Everdeen_.

“Good luck,” Jackie said. “Not that you’ll need it. All you have to do is run out the clock, and you’ll win.”

With that, she turned on her heel and walked off, leaving him wondering how to deal with this latest twist in the game.

Peeta stood dumbly in the doorway for a moment as he thought about his options. The easiest thing would be to do nothing and collect his winnings at the end. Option two would be to draw Katniss out and kill her himself.

Realizing that he wasn’t interested in either course of action, Peeta grabbed his coat and marched off to the dining hall.

The place was pretty empty, and it didn’t take long for Peeta to spot Katniss at their house’s table. He was relieved to see that she was alone, engrossed in a book as she ate. At least no one would be around to witness any potential awkwardness between them. Resolved, Peeta strode across the room toward their house table.

Katniss looked up, alerted to his presence by his heavy footfalls. She reddened at the sight of him, but remained silent.

Peeta didn’t speak, either, but merely deposited his tray in the space opposite hers. Then, reaching into his pocket, he took the post-it marked with her name and placed it in front of her plate. Her eyes widened when she saw what was written.

“So I’ve been thinking about this,” he said, breaking the standoff. “And I’ve decided that I don’t want the only interaction between us this whole year to be a couple hours during which you pretended you weren’t trying to kill me for a stupid Rez murder game.”

Katniss bowed her head down, and Peeta immediately felt sorry for letting that jab slip. “I don’t want that either,” she replied. “Especially…”

“Especially what?”

“Nothing,” she muttered, and resumed picking at her stew.

Peeta sank into his chair with a sigh. “Can I just ask you a question, then?” She shrugged in reply, prompting him to continue. “Why didn’t you just kill me when you had the chance? You know, before Cato showed up.”

Katniss paused, her fork in mid-air. Finally, she spoke. “I didn’t want our first interaction to be me killing you for a stupid Rez murder game, either,” she admitted.

Hope flickered in his chest. He studied her closely, wondering if he was understanding her properly. “So what do we do?”

She looked up, seemingly confused by his use of the word ‘we.’ “Well, if I don’t kill you by Monday, I’m out.”

“So I just avoid you until the game is over?”

She shrugged again. “Basically. Except for safe zones.”

“What, like the bathroom?” he deadpanned.

“No!” she replied, scowling. “Like here. We’re on neutral ground.”

“I’ve got a better idea.” Peeta reached out and grabbed the post-it off the table. Plucking the pencil resting behind his ear, he crossed off her name and wrote his own, then slapped the yellow square onto his glass of water. “I drink, you win.”

Katniss scowled. “I don’t need you to let me win.” She tugged the slip of paper off the glass and stuck it back on the table. Her eyes blazed, as if daring him to try and take it.

“I’m not saying you do,” he argued back.  _Man, was this girl stubborn_. “But you would have won anyway, if you’d taken me out in the common room.”

“Yeah, and then Cato would have killed me,” she retorted.

“But then, after, you could have killed me when Rue came to pick you up. But you made me stay. Why is that again?”

“Because I owed you,” she blurted out. “It hardly seemed fair to turn around and kill you right after you let me hang out in your room and eat your food and drink your hot chocolate and fall asleep on you. You were so nice to me, and I didn’t want to pay you back like that. It didn’t feel right.”

Peeta smirked at her. “You know it’s just a game, right?”

“Shut up.” Despite the glare she was sending his way, Peeta rejoiced at the smile that threatened to break through.

Emboldened, he pressed on. “Katniss,” he said gently, “I really don’t care how this dumb game ends. You deserve to win way more than me. Besides, what I care about more is if we could hang out more…you know, without the spectre of murder hanging over our heads and stuff.” Slowly, he reached his hand out to pick up the post-it. “So just let me do this, okay? The game can only have one winner.”

Her answer surprised him.

“Does it, though?”

Reaching into her pocket, Katniss produced a post-it bearing his name. She then took his pencil and, just like he had, crossed off the name and wrote her own in its place.

Peeta cocked his head at her, confused. “So what, are we going to race to see who can die first?”

“I’ve got a better idea,” Katniss grinned as she took both slips of paper and pasted them underneath Peeta’s bowl of fruit salad. Gingerly, she plucked out two blueberries and offered him one. “Double poisoning. That way, we split the pot.”

Peeta took the proffered berry, rolling it between his thumb and forefinger as he considered her proposal. His stomach flipped at the sight of her, looking adorably flushed as she waited for his answer.

_Just go for it, Mellark_.

“Deal,” he said. He smiled hopefully at her. “On one condition…you let me use my share to take you out on a date.”

The corners of Katniss’s lips turned ever so slightly upward. “I don’t know…that’s a lot of money. Exactly what did you have in mind?”

“Well, that kind of cash can buy me a ton of cheese buns…”

She smiled in reply at his joke, and his stomach flipped again. “Okay,” she said softly. “I’ll allow it.”

Peeta struggled to contain his grin. “Really?”

Katniss nodded. “On one condition,” she said, her shy expression turning playful. “You can pay for that date if you let me use my share for the next one.”

_This is the best day ever_ , Peeta thought. “What did you have in mind?” he asked, echoing her words.

“I was thinking we could do some laser tag.”

He arched a brow at her. “What, so you can try and kill me?”

“Actually,” she corrected, “it might be nice to be on the same team for real. You could show off more of those action hero moves,” she added, her eyes dancing.

Katniss held the berry up to her lips. “So. Together?”

Peeta nodded eagerly, lifting the fruit to his mouth as well. “Together.”


End file.
